Thanks TEDx Berkeley!

Today I was inspired in a powerful way that is hard to describe. I was fortunate to attend TEDx Berkeley 2011. If you have ever been to a TEDx event, you may well know what I mean, if you haven’t, let me try to describe it.

Today I heard Jason Atwood describe how he was helping learning in Ethiopia, and Erin Ganju talk about how she has transformed lives by improving children’s literacy in the developing world. I learned that David Rose had developed some advances in healthcare and improve compliance.

I learned how Robert Fuller’s views in his quest to improve human dignity. I saw a wonderful parallel in the structure of the universe and a human neural system in a presentation by Bryan Alvarez, Walter Hood described how a wonderful view of how to see landscape architecture in a new way in an urban setting. (It was a big surprise!)

Then Lupa Brunjes described biochar, as a partial solution to the global climate change problem caused by burning fossil fuels.

Marti Spiegelman described some shamanic experiences that I could strongly relate to, and Anat Baniel helped me understand how some very simple techniques can improve my own performance.

David Silverman entertained me, and Share Slocum gave me some powerful insights into how I might better manifest the best for myself and others.

For me, some of the strongest words of wisdom came from Gopi Kallayil in learning of his approach to life, and from Chip Conley who told of his own experiences in the past 10 years and what he has learned.

Not only that, I had wonderful conversations with Sohnja Drakulich whose singing moved me, and Matt Venuti who played the Hang (a musical instrument from Switzerland). You would really appreciate the healing sounds of the Hang; I can’t describe it in words.

For al this, I am thankful for the hard work of an amazing team of volunteers who brought this all together in a memorable day. Thank you TEDx Berkeley, especially K. Gong, R. Blodgett, R. Evans, R. J. Barr, N. Ganancial, B. Locks, M. Paolini, R. Mullin, D. Allen, G. Archuleta and all the other volunteers who made this day possible.

Now it is up to us, all the attendees, both present physically and virtual; I know we will make the world a bit better from this inspiring day.

If you ever have the chance to attend a TEDx Berkeley event, please do so! I put some pictures online at TEDx Berkeley 2011.

LinkedIn and Voluntary Organizations: Synergy?

LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) is a great resource for maintaining a professional network, and building a trusted system of links and recommendations.

Another parallel attribute of LinkedIn allows users to create, join, and interact in GROUPS. These may be professional, special interest, education or business oriented.

This feature is of value to not-for-profit voluntary groups for several reasons. First, for the group, assuming the group is public on Linkedin, Linkedin members may learn of a group’s existence, what its purpose is, and get a pointer to group’s external website. This link may allow professionally minded individuals learn of organizations they may not be aware of, and driving web traffic to the organization’s web site clearly helps to get the message to a selected portion of the public.

Individuals may benefit as well. Consider: voluntary organizations don’t generally pay their volunteers. Furthermore, rewards such as recognition dinners, special certificates, etc., while helpful motivators, are neither long term and not often noticed by the public.

Consider a LinkedIn user who joins a group, and indicates the voluntary position he or she has with the group in their “Experience” section of their own profile. Now others who are members of the group on LinkedIn may provide our volunteer with a recommendation on LinkedIn to recognize their contribution to the organization. Our LinkedIn user/volunteer is always free to accept or reject the recommendation.

Clearly, this works best if the volunteer gets recommended for professional level work, possibly related to a “day job” skill, or ability. In turn the recommendations may further publicize the group itself, as well as draw favorable attention to the person recommended. The reward of a recommendation costs the group no money; so more resources can be devoted to the group’s mission.

Robert Putnam describes the decline of American’s membership in all types of community groups in his book, Bowling alone: the collapse and revival of American community. Perhaps one way we can offer encouragement to members of volunteer and community groups is to recognize the efforts of these individuals in a professional venue. In some cases, this might make great sense for all.